Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present the latest in our Anniversary Classics Abroad program, Jean Renoir’s anti-war masterpiece, GRAND ILLUSION. We present this program to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I on November 11, 1918. Renoir’s film is generally regarded as the finest set during the First World War, and it endures as a memorable lament for the loss of an entire generation.

Part of the originality and impact of ‘Grand Illusion’ comes from the fact that it has no battle scenes. Much of it is set in a German prison camp where several French soldiers are under the command of an aristocratic German officer, played by silent film director Erich von Stroheim. The prisoners are portrayed by rising French actors Jean Gabin, Pierre Fresnay, and Marcel Dalio. Their struggle to escape the camp provides the suspense in the film’s second half.

Throughout the picture, Renoir sees the humanity in both captives and captors, and the film is especially notable in its portrayal of Dalio’s character, a wealthy French Jew. Filmed on the eve of the Second World War, Renoir deliberately chose to include a prominent Jewish character at a time when virulent anti-Semitism was on the rise in Europe. Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels called ‘Grand Illusion’ “Cinematic Public Enemy No. 1.”

Elsewhere, the film received nothing but acclaim. In 1937 it won a prize at the Venice Film Festival for Best Artistic Ensemble. When the film opened in the United States in 1938, it became the first foreign language film ever to be nominated by the Academy for Best Picture. (This would not happen again for 30 years, when ‘Z’ received a Best Picture nod in 1969.) Over the years the film was acclaimed by critics and also by other filmmakers. Orson Welles named ‘Grand Illusion’ as one of two films he would take with him to a desert island.

When the film was reissued years later, the New York Times’ Janet Maslin called it “one of the most haunting of all war films… an oasis of subtlety, moral intelligence and deep emotion on the cinematic landscape.” Pauline Kael praised the film as “a triumph of clarity and lucidity; every detail fits simply, easily, and intelligibly.” And Leonard Maltin acclaimed “Renoir’s classic treatise on war, focusing on French prisoners during WWI and their cultured German commandant. Beautiful performances enhance an eloquent script.”

GRAND ILLUSION screens at 7pm on Wednesday, November 14th at the Playhouse 7 in Pasadena, Royal Theatre in West LA, and Town Center 5 in Encino.

Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present a special evening with Angela Lansbury to celebrate the 40th anniversary of DEATH ON THE NILE, which features one of her most captivating performances. The film is adapted from Agatha Christie’s 1937 novel, which boasted one of the author’s most diabolically clever mystery plots, along with sumptuous atmosphere and a compelling cast of characters.

Producers John Brabourne and Richard Goodwin had scored a box office success in 1974 with a lush version of Dame Agatha’s ‘Murder on the Orient Express,’ featuring an all-star cast. In 1978 they decided to make a follow-up picture, with a new Hercule Poirot, played by two-time Oscar winner Peter Ustinov. Referring to its predecessor, Variety called DEATH ON THE NILE “a sequel that’s even better than the original” and praised the new picture as “a clever, witty, well-plotted, beautifully produced and splendidly acted screen version of Agatha Christie’s mystery.”

The producers recruited another dazzling cast, full of Oscar nominees and winners—in addition to Lansbury, the roster of suspects included Bette Davis, Maggie Smith, David Niven, Jack Warden, George Kennedy, along with younger actors Mia Farrow, Jon Finch, and Olivia Hussey. This time the filmmakers went all out on production values, filming on location in Egypt at many ancient historic sites. Award-winning cinematographer Jack Cardiff (‘Black Narcissus,’ ‘The Red Shoes,’ ‘The African Queen’) captured the locales in all their splendor. Anthony Powell won an Oscar for his elegant costumes, and Nino Rota (‘8 1/2,’ ‘The Godfather’) composed the score. John Guillermin directed.

Anthony Shaffer, the writer of ‘Sleuth,’ penned the screenplay, and as Pauline Kael wrote, “The script by Anthony Shaffer has wit and edge and structure…Shaffer has an ear for high-style romp, and the details are knobby and funny.” The mystery that Poirot has to solve concerns the murder of an arrogant, fabulously wealthy heiress (Lois Chiles) who finds herself with a boatload of enemies when she embarks on a honeymoon cruise down the Nile.

Lansbury has the juicy role of Salome Otterbourne, a flamboyant author of sexy romance novels. As Charles Champlin wrote in the Los Angeles Times, “Angela Lansbury very nearly commandeers the boat… Rolling her eyes and her vowels as if on the high seas, playing a vamp in some need of revamping, Lansbury is a model of pure and amusing camp.” Kael concurred: “Angela Lansbury does a superlative caricature of a wreck of a vamp… It’s a glorious piece of eccentric excess.”

DEATH ON THE NILE marked Lansbury’s return to the screen after a seven-year absence, during which she conquered Broadway. Lansbury was nominated for an Oscar for her very first film, ‘Gaslight,’ in 1944. She earned a second nomination the following year for ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray.’

Her early screen appearances encompassed a dazzling range, from Frank Capra’s ‘State of the Union’ to the Judy Garland musical ‘The Harvey Girls,’ and Cecil B. DeMille’s ‘Samson and Delilah.’ Other films included ‘The Court Jester,’ ‘The Long Hot Summer,’ ‘The Dark at the Top of the Stairs,’ and ‘All Fall Down.’ But she made perhaps her most memorable screen appearance as the villainess in John Frankenheimer’s classic 1962 thriller, ‘The Manchurian Candidate,’ earning a third Oscar nomination.

Later in the 60s Lansbury turned to the musical theater and won her first Tony Award for originating the title role in Jerry Herman’s ‘Mame.’ She won four more Tonys over the next few decades. In the 80s she changed gears again, starring in the popular TV detective series, ‘Murder She Wrote.’ In 2013 she earned an honorary Oscar for her sterling body of work.

DEATH ON THE NILE with Angela Lansbury in person screens at 7:30pm on Friday, November 9th at the Ahrya Fine Arts Theater in Beverly Hills. Click here to purchase tickets.

When we’re not watching foreign films or documentaries, we’re probably watching the Dodgers. But the rest of the time? The rest of the time we’re playing video games! Join us in celebrating one of the world’s most under appreciated art forms with four of our favorite gaming-inspired films every Throwback Thursday in November at the NoHo 7 in North Hollywood.

Our “My Life as a Video Game” Throwback Thursday series begins on Thursday, November 1st with THE LAST STARFIGHTER! Doors open at 7pm, trivia starts at 7:30, and movies begin at 7:40pm. Check out the full schedule below!

November 1: The Last Starfighter

Q&A with star Lance Guest!
Avid video game player Alex Rogan (Lance Guest) finds himself transported to another planet after conquering The Last Starfighter video game only to find out it was a test. He’s been recruited to join a team of top starfighters to defend their world from the attack. TICKETS.

November 8: WarGames

A young video game aficionado, David (Matthew Broderick), inadvertently taps into a top secret U.S. military computer and proceeds to play his favorite game, “Global Thermonuclear War.” What we know, but David doesn’t, is that the Pentagon, hoping to eliminate the chancy “human element” in the event of an actual war, has given its computer total, irreversible control over the launching of nuclear weaponry. David and government official McKittrick (Dabney Coleman) race against time to reverse the computer’s resolve to send bombers to Russia. TICKETS.

November 15: TRON

A hacker is abducted into the digital world and forced to participate in gladiatorial games where his only chance of escape is with the help of a heroic security program. Jeff Bridges, Bruce Boxleitner, and David Warner star. TICKETS.

November 22: Thanksgiving (No Screening) 🦃

November 29: Scott Pilgrim vs The World

Director Edgar Wright’s adaptation of a series of graphic novels follows Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera), who must defeat his new girlfriend’s (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) seven evil exes in order to win her heart in this original and clever coming-of-age comedy. TICKETS.

Details about December #TBT screenings are coming soon. Remember to check www.laemmle.com/tbt for updates!

Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present the latest installment in our popular Anniversary Classics Abroad program, 60th anniversary screenings of the Oscar winner for Best Foreign Language Film of 1958, Jacques Tati’s MON ONCLE.

Tati made only six feature films over the course of his career (including Jour de Fete, Playtime, and Traffic), and this comedy—his first film in color—is considered one of the highlights.

Tati had introduced the character of Mr. Hulot in Mr. Hulot’s Holiday, his highly praised film from 1953. He once again plays the character of Hulot in this more ambitious satire of modern technology and its dehumanizing effect on family life. Jean-Pierre Zola and Adrienne Servantie play a married couple in thrall to a sterile, workaday world. Alain Becourt plays their young son who finds liberation with his playful uncle.

As in many of Tati’s films, Mon Oncle pays homage to the masters of silent comedy. There is very little dialogue in the film; instead the humor is visual, where the slightly futuristic settings are as important as the human characters. The ingenious sets were designed by Jacques Lagrange at the Victorine Studios outside Nice.

Variety wrote, “Jacques Tati’s film has inventiveness, gags, warmth and a ‘poetic’ approach to satire.” Leonard Maltin declared, “Tati’s first color film is a masterpiece… Continuous flow of sight gags (including the funniest fountain you’ll ever see) makes this easygoing, nearly dialogue-less comedy a total delight.”

The film has also had an enduring impact on many other directors. At the AFI Festival in 2010, David Lynch presented a screening of Mon Oncle and announced that it was one of the films that had the greatest influence on him.

At Laemmle we say, “Not Afraid of Subtitles.” But this October, subtitles get downright horrifying! Join us for the second installment of our month-long tribute to frightening foreign films at the NoHo 7… just in time for Halloween!

Our “Scary Subtitles” Throwback Thursday series begins on Thursday, October 4th with THE DEVIL’S BACKBONE! Doors open at 7pm, trivia starts at 7:30, and movies begin at 7:40pm. Check out the full schedule below!

October 4: The Devil’s Backbone [El Espinazo del Diablo]

After Carlos, a 12-year-old whose father has died in the Spanish Civil War, arrives at an ominous orphanage for boys, he learns that the school is haunted and has many dark secrets that will confront him. Directed and co-written by Guillermo del Toro (Pan’s Labrynth, The Shape of Water). Produced by Pedro Almodóvar. In Spanish with English subtitles.TICKETS.

October 11: Black Sabbath [I Tre Volti della Paura]

In this 1963 horror anthology, Boris Karloff hosts a trio of stories concerning a stalked call girl, an vampire who can only feed on those he loves, and a nurse who is haunted by her ring’s rightful owner. Actor/producer Mark Damon, who stars in the third segment, will participate in a Q&A at the screening. In addition to his acting career, Damon has produced many films including MONSTER and DAS BOOT. In Italian with English subtitles.TICKETS.

October 18: I Saw the Devil [Angmareul Boatda]

A shockingly violent and stunningly accomplished tale of murder and revenge from Korean genre master Jee-woon Kim (The Good, The Bad, The Weird and A Tale of Two Sisters). It transcends the police procedural and serial killer genres in surprising and thrilling new ways. In Korean with English subtitles. TICKETS.

October 25: Dead Snow [Død Snø]

A group of friends had all they would need for a successful Easter vacation; cabin, skis, snowmobile, toboggan, and copious amounts of beer. Certainly, none of them had anticipated not returning home alive. However, the Nazi-zombie battalion haunting the mountains surrounding the aptly named Oksfjord (Axefjord) had other plans… In Norwegian with English subtitles.TICKETS.

Details about November #TBT screenings are coming soon. Remember to check www.laemmle.com/tbt for updates!

Ira Levin’s ingenious best-selling novel imagined a witches’ coven hiding in plain sight in contemporary Manhattan and hatching a plot to bring the Devil’s son to earth. Producer William Castle, the mastermind behind many successful B-horror movies, graduated to the A ranks with this classy production. Paramount’s head of production, Robert Evans, hired acclaimed European director Roman Polanski to make his Hollywood debut with the film.

The casting of the film was inspired. As the innocent woman at the center of the diabolical conspiracy, the filmmakers chose a relatively new face to movies, Mia Farrow, and she played the role with endearing vulnerability.

The film’s success catapulted her to full-fledged stardom. John Cassavetes took a break from his own independent productions to play Farrow’s conniving husband. The brilliance of the casting extended to the supporting players, a veritable Who’s Who of vintage Hollywood and Broadway actors, including Ruth Gordon, Sidney Blackmer, Maurice Evans, Ralph Bellamy, Patsy Kelly, and Elisha Cook Jr. Gordon won the Oscar for best supporting actress for her spot-on portrayal of a nosy neighbor with a sinister agenda. Polanski earned an Oscar nomination for his adapted screenplay.

Behind-the-scenes credits were just as impressive. Six-time Oscar nominee William Fraker (‘Bullitt,’ ‘Heaven Can Wait’) was the cinematographer, while two-time Oscar winner Richard Sylbert (‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf,’ ‘Chinatown,’ ‘Dick Tracy’) was the production designer. The eerie score was composed by a gifted friend of Polanski, Christopher Komeda, who died tragically at the age of 37 soon after the release of the film.

Among the stellar reviews for the film, Leonard Maltin hailed a “classic modern-day thriller by Ira Levin, perfectly realized by writer-director Polanski.” Stephen Witty of the Newark Star-Ledger called it “one of the finest horror films ever made.” In 2014 ‘Rosemary’s Baby’ was added to the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress.

Q&A, book sale and signing with author James Munn after the screening. Munn is a freelance writer, film historian and former editor at Architectural Digest; he grew up in rural Nebraska and currently resides in Hollywood, California.

ROSEMARY’S BABY screens Wednesday, September 26 at 7pm at the Laemmle Playhouse 7 in Pasadena. Click here for tickets.

Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present a screening of one of the groundbreaking movies from the tumultuous year of 1968, Richard Lester’s PETULIA. Set in 1960’s San Francisco, the story of a troubled love affair between a divorced surgeon and a free-spirited socialite captures some of the disruptions of a society in transition.

Lester, the winner of the Career Achievement Award from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association in 2014, first came to attention as the director of comedies like ‘The Mouse on the Moon’ and the brilliantly innovative Beatles musicals, ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ and ‘Help!’

PETULIA marked his first foray into dramatic filmmaking, though it retained the comic and satiric touches of his early movies. Lester’s daring approach to non-linear storytelling had a tremendous influence on a later generation of filmmakers, including director Steven Soderbergh, who published a series of interviews with Lester.

PETULIA, produced by Raymond Wagner, was adapted from a novel by John Haase. Lawrence B. Marcus, who later earned an Oscar nomination for his script of ‘The Stunt Man,’ wrote the screenplay. The technical team behind the movie was also first-rate.

Master cinematographer Nicolas Roeg went on to become the acclaimed director of such films as ‘Don’t Look Now’ and ‘The Man Who Fell to Earth.’ Film editor Antony Gibbs worked on such films as ‘A Taste of Honey’ and Lester’s ‘The Knack,’ as well as Oscar winners ‘Tom Jones’ and ‘Fiddler on the Roof.’

Five-time Oscar winner John Barry composed the score, with some help from on-screen performances by Big Brother and the Holding Company, the Grateful Dead, and other San Francisco bands of the ’60s.

Roger Ebert reviewed the film at the time and wrote, “I am unable to find a single thing wrong with it.” Life Magazine’s Richard Schickel declared, “PETULIA is a terrific movie, at once a sad and savage comment on the ways we waste our time, our money and ourselves in upper-middle-class America.” Leonard Maltin praised the film’s “terrific acting, especially by Scott and Knight, in one of the decade’s best films.”

Shirley Knight earned two Oscar nominations early in her career, for ‘The Dark at the Top of the Stairs’ and ‘Sweet Bird of Youth.’

She went on to star in the film version of Leroi Jones’ controversial play ‘Dutchman,’ in Francis Ford Coppola’s ‘The Rain People,’ Sidney Lumet’s film version of Mary McCarthy’s best-selling novel ‘The Group,’ and in James L. Brooks’ Oscar winner ‘As Good As It Gets.’

For television she starred in Ingmar Bergman’s script ‘The Lie’ and won an Emmy for her performance in ‘Indictment: The McMartin Trial.’

Richard Chamberlain, star of stage, screen, and television, will join the Q&A of PETULIA with actress Shirley Knight. Chamberlain was best known for the Dr. Kildare TV series when director Richard Lester decided to cast the actor against type as the abusive husband of Julie Christie in PETULIA. The role helped to alter Chamberlain’s image and enhance his reputation and his visibility.

He went on to co-star in Lester’s enormously popular ‘Three Musketeer’ movies. He played Tchaikovsky in Ken Russell’s film ‘The Music Lovers’, also co-starred in such films as ‘The Towering Inferno’ and Peter Weir’s ‘The Last Wave.’

Chamberlain became best known for his starring roles in several popular TV movies and miniseries, including ‘Centennial,’ ‘Shogun,’ ‘The Thorn Birds,’ and ‘Wallenberg: A Hero’s Story.’

PETULIA screens on Thursday, September 20th at 7pm at the Laemmle Royal in West LA. Q&A with Shirley Knight and Richard Chamberlain. Click here for tickets.

Join us for a September filled with mistaken identities, witty repartee, farcical situations, and… a pet leopard. Indulge in one of the most enduring genres of all time, screwball comedies, every Throwback Thursday in September at the NoHo 7.

Our Throwback Thursday (#TBT) series is presented in partnership with Eat|See|Hear every Thursday at 7:30pm in North Hollywood. Check out the full schedule below. For tickets and our full #TBT schedule, visit laemmle.com/tbt.

September 6: Bringing Up Baby (1938)

Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant star in this inspired comedy about a madcap heiress with a pet leopard who meets an absent-minded paleontologist and unwittingly makes a fiasco of both their lives. Format: DVD.Click here for tickets.

September 13: The Lady Eve (1941)

In Preston Sturges’ comedy, Henry Fonda stars as Charles Pike, the son of a beer magnate who becomes the target of the father-daughter team of card sharps ‘Colonel’ Harry and Jean Harrington (Charles Coburn and Barbara Stanwyck). Their plan to rob the naive young man blind hits a snag, however, when Jean actually falls head over heels for an equally-smitten Pike. Format: DCP.Click here for tickets.

September 20: The Seven Year Itch (1955)

When his family goes away for the summer, a thus-far faithful husband is tempted by a beautiful neighbor. Starring Marilyn Monroe, Tom Ewell, and Evelyn Keyes. Format: DCP.Click here for tickets.

September 27: What’s Up, Doc (1972)

The accidental mix-up of four identical plaid overnight bags leads to a series of increasingly wild and wacky situations in Peter Bogdanovich’s homage to the genre. Barbra Streisand, Ryon O’Neal, and Madeline Kahn star. Format: Blu-ray.Click here for tickets.